Monday, November 8, 2010

Mumia Abu Jamal Radio Teach-In

Mumia Abu Jamal is a prolific writer who scribes from behind the bars of SCI Greene Prison in Pennsylvania. He sits in limbo in his jail cell, between life and death and yet his voice pumps out on a regular basis profound commentary on the society on the outside of his bars.

On Tuesday, November 9th, this man, this writer, this profound commentator on our world will be up against a court system that has for 3 decades kept him, his pen, his body behind bars, but every now and then, lets out bits and pieces of his voice. This Tuesday, November 9th, is a sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu Jamal. It will take place at Philadelphia's United States Courthouse and during the hearing whether he will be executed or spend the rest of life behind bars will be decided.

If the millions of people around the world who heard his voice have their say, he'll be coming home, finally, after years of fighting his incarceration.

Now it's other folks' turn to push their voices in battle with Goliaths, like Mumia has done with his for years, and get him free.

This radio teach-in includes the following voices:

--M1 of the Dead Prez--the late Pennsylvania Representative Dave Richardson in August of 1995--Wayne Alexander, the nephew of Mumia Abu Jamal--Ramona Africa on Mumia and the MOVE ORGANIZATION--Pam Africa--Mumia Abu Jamal

1 comment:

Is it a coincidence that one of the most important dissident voices in the world continues to find himself struggling for sheer life in the United States, the most democratic of democracies in the industrialized world?

We should ask Mumia, who has spent three decades of his life falsely imprisoned, writing about the true criminals in society and detailing their deadly deeds from death row.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a child of the black liberation struggle in America who has dedicated his life to the cause of social change and whose words have inspired millions of people around the world, including me, a formerly wrongly convicted prisoner in California, who discovered his writings at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles in 1996, as I awaited to be tried in the adult courts that would eventually send me off to die in prison. (Visit www.mariostory.org for more information.)

As a man who has spent the majority of his life exposing the true criminals in society--criminals like the ones who locked me up, as well as those who design the programs that lock up so many others--Mumia deserves our undivided attention and respect.

It is not a question of whether his is innocent or guilty, what our generation must demand is that, at the very least, Mumia Abu-Jamal deserves a fair trial. A trial where he will be present during all proceedings unless otherwise requested by Mumia; unlike his trial in 1982, where the honorable judge Alfred Sabo dishonored the constitution by barring Mumia from the courtroom. This was done to silence Mumia during his own trial.

And for the past 30 years, Mumia has refused to give his enemies what they want - his silence.

Therefore, on November 9, 2010, it is important that we demand that Mumia's voice finally be heard and that justice finally be served.